“Our family,” she said, glancing down at her firstborn, never happier.
* * *
This book wasa lot hotter than I planned on, but I did love this story and I’m so glad that Pearl, Anthony and Wesley have a happily ever after. Next up is the last book in the Treasure Falls Series and it’s a Christmas book. Read on for a sample of Our Christmas Bride.
* * *
The stagecoach bouncedalong the road, past the pine trees and the mountains in the distance, carrying Carrie Sanders home. She was returning as an abject failure, but she no longer cared.
She was tired of hiding her life and family ways and trying to fit in with those fancy girls in her finishing school. She was done and heading home to Treasure Falls.
Her brothers be damned. They didn’t rule her. For too long she’d let her brothers control her and that was in the past. At eighteen, she could do what she wanted, and she’d been homesick for the past two years.
Enough. Time to go home, take a stand, and find her place in their community. It was what their parents would’ve wanted her to do even though there would be a shitstorm on the horizon.
The stage rounded the last curve and she took a deep breath of the mountain air. It felt so good to be back in Montana – the colder air, open spaces, and the mountaintops already sporting a white coat promising winter was on the way.
She had escaped the stifling city life with women who lifted their noses into the air as they passed her by. According to those “fine” women, she was an abomination.
In Treasure Falls, as the founder of the town, her family was one of the most respected, but she had never concerned herself with being upper-crust society. What did that mean? That your family had a little more money?
All that mattered was the sense of belonging she missed. Treasure Falls was home and it was time to leave the snobs behind in Denver where they belonged. Time for this abomination to return to where she felt loved and wanted.
Who knew that having two husbands was such a banned or taboo subject? She had certainly created a stir when she told them that her mother had two husbands. Her aunt had two husbands, and even her brothers were married to a woman they shared with another man.
By the girls’ over-reactions, you would have thought her family were sexual deviants holding wild orgies and not the family life they enjoyed. Not the pledge to protect one another and stand beside each other.
They didn’t understand.
In the city, the dangers were not as evident as they were here. Bear attacks, mining collapses, cougar attacks, Treasure Falls had it all, even blizzards. Here, the chances of becoming a young widow were high. With an additional husband, the family would be protected. This way a woman would not be without someone to take care of her and the children.
And her family had sacrificed a lot for this little town. Including the lives of her two fathers and her mother. The memory of that stressful time hung like a cloud over her until her brothers sent her away to that fancy finishing school with the intent that she would marry into high society.
High society be damned.
Wouldn’t her brothers be shocked when they learned she had traveled all this way by herself?
No one knew she was returning. No one would be waiting at the stage depot. Her arrival would be a huge surprise to everyone.
The last few months had been filled with exciting adventures that had her changing the course of her life. Had her returning to her roots.
“Treasure Falls,” the driver called as he pulled the horses to a stop.
Home, she was home and couldn’t wait to see her aunt Grace and Doc.
She sat patiently inside the coach for the driver to put the stool down and open the door. When the handle turned, she jumped up, eager to get out of this rattletrap she’d spent days bouncing inside of.
Stepping out of the stage, she gazed about at the town she loved. The place that held all her fond memories of her mother and fathers and even her brothers before they became her caretakers.
Before they decided to rule her life.
Though it had only been a couple years, the town had grown. It appeared they now even had a small cafe.
She laughed, feeling relieved to be back. “Thank you,” she said to the driver. “Have a safe trip home.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said. “What do you want me to do with your trunk?”
There was no way she could carry the thing. And she hated going off and leaving it just sitting, but what choice did she have?